Cat vomiting - 6 vets later and not better

Madeline our ~15 year old cat has been vomiting for several years. It's rarely a hairball. She vomits food, liquid and clear liquid. It just depends on the day. We've seen at least six different doctors at three different vet clinics and the only thing they came up with was inflammatory bowel disease or cancer. It's been over a year and she's still alive, so I sort of doubt the cancer idea.

They've done blood work, unrinalysis tests, many exams and probably other stuff I can't even recall. We had her on all sorts of different foods and none helped. She even tried Royal Canin PR wet and dry food for about 5 months. She is currently taking Budesonide for her thyroid which is at a good level now, and she's also taking methimazole (steroid) in case she has IBD. I do not want to do a biopsy - they said doing one may or may not show us that she has cancer.

She gets sick once a week and vomits about five times in a row, sometimes crying out. I give her a Cerenia anti-nasueau pill and then she's fine for another week. It's like clock work - sick every week. Any ideas? I'm desperate!

Hi Kate, welcome to TCS.

Our older cat was having similar problems.  For several years now, he'd been throwing up right after eating breakfast - sometimes at other hours but mostly right after his first meal.  He had a tendency to wolf it down, so at first, we assumed it was due to eating too fast.

Fast forward to a few months ago when one of his vets mentioned IBD or cancer, as yours did also.  We too, opted not to have a biopsy done, as the likelyhood of it being any type of cancer was low considering how many years he'd been living this way.  

Fast forward one more time. It became painfully obvious that he was losing way too much weight.  We went for a wellness visit in July and while mentioning his various symptoms, the vet clicked on one in particular - how much he was suddenly drinking.

Well, turns out he was diagnosed as being diabetic. Perhaps his glucose levels up until then were not at an alarming range so it wasn't caught.  They put him on insulin right away and now, 6 weeks later, he's doing better and get this - has only thrown up 1 time in all those weeks.  Once.  I can't help but think the diabetes was potentially more a cause for it than anything else given the circumstances.

While I'm not saying your cat is diabetic, it could be possible if they haven't looked closely enough at this a potential cause. Our cat had no other symptoms up until the past couple of months which would have tipped it off other than the weight loss which could have been the IBD also.  

We were supposed to start him on a medication for IBD but, have not being as he isn't throwing up now.  No point in double dosing him unnecessarily.  

Anyway, the point of all that is maybe the vets have missed something else. It just isn't normal for a cat to throw up that much as you know.  Do you have a vet anywhere nearby that specializes only in cats?  Perhaps that may help get to the bottom of it.  There's also a Facebook group for IBD kitties, which I belong to. It's pretty easy to find, just type that into the search bar and it will come up. I suggest joining that group - they are a great bunch of people and you'll certainly learn a lot there. They also have a web page - again, just do search for same name; I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links to other sites here or not - I always forget.

our cat threw up for years, and ultimately we we also told it was either IBS or cancer.  the vet put him on prenisolone, and now HK only throws up maybe once a week.  when he was having it every other day, he threw up on the off days, so now he's on once a day (they had him on twice a day, but it can cause side effects so i reduced the frequency and it works fine.  btw, our cat is also on methimazole for his thyroid.

one other thought - our cat tried supposedly healthier foods, easier to digest foods and kidney foods (he has feline kidney disease), but the only food he will eat and also not throw up is fancy feast, so that's what he eats and it hasn't given him any issues. 

since it works, can't you give the cat cerenia more frequently?  i just went to the fridge to check (we have it compounded into a liquid) and ours is labelled for daily use. 

Thank you both very much for the responses. I feel like I'm in good company.  

Sivyaleah - I too though our cat was just eating too fast, but she often throws up no food. I felt like a bad parent not doing the biopsy, so thanks for confirming I'm not! Thanks for the diabetes thoughts - I plan to call the vet to see if they tested anything related to that disease. She does seem to drink more than she used to, but no substantial weight loss. The vet we go to (third clinic) says they specialize in cats, but they also see dogs. I'll check out the IBD facebook page and call to ask about Diabetes. Thank you!

Basschick - our cat throws up once a week now, but it's like 3-5 times in a row. Then we give her Cerenia and she's good for another week. The vet said it's best not to rely on Cerenia. My response was great, what would you suggest instead (besides spending another $2k on vet bills)? No helpful response. The funny thing is, our cat does best on Fancy Feast too - she prefers it and does much better on it than the "healthy foods." Had your vet tested for Diabetes? I'm curious about that now that I've seen the other response. Thank you!

My Mom's 3.5 year old male throws up frequently. It used to be daily but now it's down to about once a week and we can usually predict it because it's now just when he eats too much too quickly. 

I'd recommend trying a different diet. With this cat and others I've had before who have problems throwing up; when the vet can't figure it out it's usually diet. Nature's Variety Instinct food is what we use and all three are doing well. It's a high protein, grain free food and I've heard others having good luck with their limited ingredient line when it comes to unexplained tummy issues. I am not a vet, and I don't pretend to be, but I try to stick with food I can pronounce the ingredients of for both myself and my cat babies. I know there is research into the prescribed diets and such but I feel leery about the research just because the research is typically based on previous formulas and when a kibble has more chemicals than actual animal product I know I wouldn't want to eat it so why would I give it to my cats? Nature's Variety has wet and fresh versions of their foods too if that is more your style (I do a mix of wet and dry personally). 

Thanks Kieka!  We've tried Hills Science Diet, Royal Canine and a few others, but have had no luck. I'll look into the one you mentioned and compare it's ingredients with the others - it's worth a try! Thank you!

Oooh! I feel your pain! My kitties had a bad bout of pancreatitis and my boy was....close to crossing the rainbow bridge, but he rallied and told me no.

If kitty has IBD, you might want to look into Pepcid AC---this controls stomach acid for kitties as IBD can cause inflammation of the pancreas--and so can cancer.  This is what my vet and I discussed about my boy, and small intestinal cancer would be right where the pancrease sits beneath. I have found Pepcid AC to be a HUGE help in managing my kitties nausea. Speak to your vet about it. a QUARTER of a tablet morning and night was what I did for about two weeks, and then as needed.  Talk to your vet and I do suggest getting a pill cutter because they are murder to break on their own. 

Remember to get Pepcid AC, not complete or anything else. Generic name is fathtom or something to that effect.